This Free App Will Help You Stay on Top of Food Recalls

Staying up to date on national food recalls is important for your family’s safety, and ignoring a dangerous Class 1 recall could potentially be life-threatening. With the news of widespread foodborne illness on the rise, it’s hard to keep your fridge up to snuff—but there's a solution that could put your mind at ease and keep you safe from any hazardous food.

The United States Department of Agriculture, a national federal safety agency in charge of the bulk of food recalls in conjunction with the Food and Drug Administration, released an update to their mobile app to make it easier than ever to get up-to-date recall information. It's called FoodKeeper, and it's free for you to download on your smartphone.

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It was originally released in 2015, thanks to a collaboration between the USDA's Food Safety and Inspection Service division and Cornell University, as well as the Food Marketing Institute. But the latest update, which came in early October, is loaded with real-time notifications to help you avoid the risks associated with salmonella poisoning, E. coli, and other serious foodborne illnesses.

You can choose to receive information on FSIS recalls the minute they're released, or you can choose to receive daily or weekly notices recounting all the foods that are currently being recalled in your state.

Beyond giving you information on current recalls, FoodKeeper is an impressive asset for any home cook—it contains proper instructions on how to store food safely, and includes information on the shelf life of nearly any product in your kitchen. You can find storage timelines for more than 500 different kinds of foods—including how long you should be storing them in the refrigerator and freezer, as well as preparation tips for raw meats, poultry, and seafood.

Don't be too upset if you don't have access to the FoodKeeper app on your smartphone: You can always access the app from your computer by logging onto the FoodSafety website, or by clicking here.